Bali

We flew Air Asia to Bali, a very bare bones operation.  They did give us a reserved wheelchair for $20.00 but we had to push it ourselves...so Margie pushed Mom and I brought up the rear with the walker.  Security is at each gate so we walked thru Changi Airport and then waited in line to pass security..it's the only place where we didn't get to go thru priority.

The flight was only 2 hours and we brought food from the airport-much cheaper than in the US.  Our airline charged for drinks too, so we used our own water.  We were met by our hired driver, Mr. Sunjaya-it's all "mister" and "madame" in Bali.  He surprisingly had an extra guy with him to help with mom-a misunderstanding.  It meant we three -not mom, but Mr. Sunjaya, Margie, and I were squished into the backseat.   This was not ok for the long drives so Margie paid him off with a tip and we kept our scheduled driver.  We were not sure why we had two.   Theories:  they thought mom was more disabled, Mr Sunjaya wanted to be the boss and have an underling, or he just wanted work for his friend.  

He was incredibly kind to Mom, but knew next to nothing about Bali and had no ideas about where to go.  We needed good toilets and accessible restaurants, both of which he could not provide.  He is a former student of the guide Margie used in Feb.  That driver was out of the country but he had recommended his student, who was obviously absent the day they were all taught to know something about the country they were driving us around.   We tried very hard to praise him for what he did well, which turned out to be packing the trunk with mom's walker in a very space-conscious way:  Margie took to complimenting him incessantly about these skills, (so she wouldn't lose her temper and alienate him while we were out in the middle of the Bali mountains)and as we, jokingly said, bestowing an engineering degree on him because he obviously didn't have a completed travel degree.

It may all be funny some day, but not yet.   He also drove way too fast through towns so we only saw where we would have wanted to stop by looking out of the rear window.   He got a 10% tip-which means we were not super happy and Margie will email him and cc his former teacher in about a week.  

So the first two nights we stayed in Ubud, the town made famous by Eat, Pray, Love.  It is a hippy place, for rich ones, that is, full of spas and boutiques. But it is really nice and so fun and active-a good night life too.  There is good shopping and I would love to go back. We stayed at Lumbung Sari Cottages, on Monkey Forest Road.  Nice small place.  We were there at off-season so all rooms under $100/night.

A nice little pool but no space for lap swimming.  All the hotels in Ubud are off the major streets but look like nothing until you get back inside.  Lovely alters outside the rooms and so welcoming.

We did go shopping for sarongs and scarves for the temples and then we had a late dinner.

I love how open everything is-no walls-because it's so warm. Bali food is different from other Indonesian food I've had.  Very good though.

Most meals have this salad with green beans and fried onions, with the variation of bean sprouts and grated carrots and maybe cabbage.  There is a strong lemongrass taste too, very refreshing.